Archive for the Philosophy Category

Civilization is based on laws, and anyone that lives in cities made by laws needs to have access to lawyers to have any power over local authorities to hold them accountable as public servants in a country considered to be democratic.

Immanuel Kant was one of the greatest rational philosophers of the Enlightenment, and set a categorical standard for modern reasoning. All of Kant’s years from birth to death (1724-1804), were spent in the small provincial town Konigsberg, in East Prussia. Kant’s grand-father was of Scotch lineage, but if he had kept the original spelling (Cant), the C would have been pronounced as a Z by the citizens of Konigsberg. Also Kant’s original first name was Emanuel, but he changed it to Immanuel after learning Hebrew. Both of Kant’s parents were modest financially and religiously; but spiritually nurtured by a Christian Lutheran sect called the Pietists. Being a Pietist Christian, Kant had a mixed sense of pride in religious rigor, and humility about humble limitations.

Kant was first educated at the local College; then in 1740 Kant went to the University of Konigsburg, where he studied the classics, physics, and philosophy. The master of German Philosophy at the time was Christian von Wolff; who was a dominant secretary of the Enlightenment movement, and stated that “man could be happy and good without the divine grace of revelation”. This atheist statement angered the ‘Soldier King’ of Prussia, King Frederick William I; however his condemnation only enhanced Wolff’s international fame. Immanuel Kant revered Wolff as the “most powerful representative of dogmatic rationalism, from the stand-point of pure unshaken confidence in the strength of Reason.” Kant eventually replaced Wolff as the popular national philosopher.

In Kant’s home town of Konigsburg, the city burghers were said to set their watches when Kant passed by their windows on his precisely-timed daily walks. He did not write his most famous works until he was older. When people that knew him read his work, they often agreed that it was logical and well-ordered, just like Kant himself. Kant applied his logic to a mature reflection on whether or not to marry; he decided finally to remain single. Kant’s travels did not exceed the city boundaries, his life had no remarkable adventures or political power or social connections, yet he was an immensely successful tutor, lecturer, and a charming host.

Immanuel Kant was a man of clear, critical, logical, vigorous, rigorous, and trenchant thought. In his Critique of Pure Reason he methodically divides chapters to explore ‘a priori’ metaphysical issues. ‘A priori’ is the pure form of sensuous general intuitions, that existed prior to our physical existence; archetypal knowledge from before we were born. Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason was followed by the Critique of Practical Reason (1788) and the Critique of Judgment (1790).

“Act always in such a way. that you should want your action to become a universal law.” – Immanuel Kant. This categorical imperative is one of the main recommendations of Kant’s writings. Although it centers around action, Kant also said that virtue was in the ‘Will’, and not the ‘Act’. Consciousness involves feeling, thinking, and acting. Feeling regards faith, thinking seeks epistemology, and acting involves ethics.

We still can barely hold raffles in America without someone being able to easily rig the counting. With political elections it is easy to forge or lose several to dozens of ballots, and therefore hundreds or thousands more when all stations are added up. I worked counting votes and giving ballots once, it was clear that workers could mess with the counts if they wanted to. The people in charge of the voting stations had authority and understood the system, and therefore could do all kinds of things if they had reason to, as the ballot boxes are transferred at night when the clueless hired help like me goes home and they are alone for an ample amount of time. I cannot speak about digital voting, except to say that hackers know more than I do about breaking into computer systems. Vote counting issues still present a problem for modern democracy.

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was a major Italian poet for writing a very famous religious fantasy book called ‘The Divine Comedy’. Dante is called the ‘Founder of Italian’ because he wrote in Tuscan vernacular ‘vulgar’ dialect, rather than traditional or ‘proper’ Latin. Dante used a poetic literature style for his novel, which used the 3-line rhyme scheme (terza rima). Dante’s depictions of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven have inspired a large body of religious art, and influenced Christianity itself. His ‘Divine Comedy‘ represents the medieval mind combining religious and romantic imagery. Dante’s quest for his ideal love ‘Beatrice’ represents the soul’s journey towards God. Dante draws the reader into his transcendent fictional memoir by sharing common life phases, famous and infamous names, and biographical details. Dante called it a ‘comedy’ because the plot proceeds from turmoil to a happy ending; but the story is certainly a mixture of many genres. Fans that refer to it as ‘The Inferno‘ are usually most fascinated by the horrible torture scenes in Hell. Fear of Hell is very compelling for many Christians, fed by the classic ‘fire & brimstone’ sermons. Purgatory is similar to the torture myths of Sisyphus and Prometheus, with a spiral upwards. The Garden of Eden crowns its summit. The 7 deadly sins are cleansed in Purgatory, so loving sinners can earn going to Heaven. Heaven is made of celestial rings crowned by the golden Empyrean pyramid containing the essence of God. There are 9 ring levels each with 1 final chief control center, for a total of 10 layers per realm.

Dante’s book is similar to classical adventures in Hades, where the hero visits the realm of the dead and returns to the land of the living to tell the tale; except for Catholics there are 3 realms of the dead where heavenly ‘Paradise’ seems not within the Underworld, and with Purgatory takes the place of Mount Olympus. There are references to the Roma-Amor mirror dichotomy palindrome of public duty and private love, Sunwise vs Anti-diasil spiral procession, and Plebeian Secession.

Medieval Italy had a political struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines. Dante was part of the Guelphs, who favored the Papacy over the Holy Roman Emperor. Florence’s Guelphs split into factions around 1300: the White Guelphs and the Black Guelphs. Dante was among the White Guelphs who were exiled in 1302 by the Lord-Mayor.

Some people fear holding officials accountable, in fear of another corrupt vice politician hypothetically causing more problems, or that it would mean endless hearings and trials about corruption, thus grid-locking government more than usual. Having more public attention about corruption, could force restructuring of democracy for functionality. To me it seems irrational to allow a terrible leader to continue causing harm, by any illogical reasoning that allows abuse instead of ethics. To be fair it would be interesting to hear a scenario where oligarchs would allow our change to happen; which might well be impossible so long as corporations and plutocrats control the economy and campaign finance aka bribery. Perhaps the ultimate conclusion is that people en mass create the social change that years from now facilitate economics and politics for small people and all people. How grassroots change happens is first by compassionate communication for the less fortunate poor, with at least some frequency and sympathetic rationality using arts and sciences to reflect egalitarian goals and aspirations. Over time systems become run by people with the collective core values that groups of people expect and demand, even if their words and promises fall short of actions. Needed actions tend to happen when individual people feel empowered enough to carry out the activities that give them rewards (see Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’). If individuals can run large groups democratically with enough members to fill offices and run accountability rules, then Plato’s need for a Philosopher King would be overturned by the majority of masses joining Socrates and Diogenes in noble quests in common spaces using dialog instead of only fixed rhetoric and abuse of power. Perhaps democracy can hold leaders accountable, rather than jail or execute public nuisances.